The Slop Manifesto's Take on protocol

A goblin grandmother, hunched over a soup of indeterminate ingredients, told me protocol 'was already old when the mountains were young, and it has not gotten any younger.'

An obscure goblin festival celebrates the day protocol was first noticed by the goblin community at large. Festivities include wearing one's hat backwards and pretending not to remember anyone's name. The festival lasts exactly as long as participants can stand it.

Marginalia: synthesized

In the goblin underground, synthesized is approached the way one approaches an unfamiliar lock: slowly, with curiosity, and with several backup plans for when the obvious approach doesn't work. Goblins are surprisingly patient about this. They have, after all, the time.

On Encountering corruption

Goblin testimony on corruption is notoriously inconsistent — not in the details, but in the tone. Some goblins describe corruption with reverence; some with derision; some with the studied neutrality of a goblin who has been burned before. All testimonies are filed and kept.

The Goblin Verdict on protocol

The goblin verdict on protocol is unanimous, which is remarkable given that goblins cannot agree on anything except the deliciousness of stolen food. protocol has been classified as 'Real Enough to Matter in Ways We Don't Fully Understand,' which is the highest classification a goblin concept can receive.